GARDINER — The Tigers waited until it was nearly too late before deciding to bite.

Sophomores Sophia Marrone and Catherine Mansir scored goals 24 seconds apart late in the second half, leading the Gardiner girls soccer team to a 2-1 win over Maine Central Institute in a Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference clash Wednesday at Hoch Field.

After trailing for more than an hour in the cross-class matchup, Gardiner (10-1-0) found an extra gear late in the going to secure its seventh straight victory

“I was not really nervous,” said Marrone, whose penalty kick in the 66th minute leveled the score at 1-1, erasing a second-minute goal from Gabrielle Finelle for the visitors. “We had possession for a lot of the game. I knew we were going to win.”

Before the dust had settled, Mansir potted the winner. She finished off an excellent passing play by tucking her shot inside the right post.

Though Abby Cooley had initiated the play on the right flank with her cross into the 18-yard box, and Lydia Gero volleyed a perfect pass out of mid-air onto Mansir’s boot, it was a fitting finish for Mansir.

Mansir earned Marrone’s spot kick when she was taken down by MCI center back Heather Nelson.

“Yeah, I thought I got fouled,” Mansir said. “That first (MCI) goal really shook us, because it came pretty early on. But we talked about getting more connected and working together, and I think that really paid off in the second half.”

“The message at halftime was to keep doing what we’re doing,” Gardiner coach Jess Prince said. “We gave up a wonky one in the first half, but overall I felt like we dominated play. The message was just to relax, keep playing our style of soccer, and goals will come. Fortunately, they did.”

MCI, in the thick of the Class C North playoff race, dropped to 7-4-0 with the loss, the team’s third defeat in its last four games following a 6-1-0 start.

The first half didn’t generate much in the way of chances for either side once the Huskies took the early 1-nil advantage. Gardiner produced some chances close to the break, the best of which came when Cooley couldn’t quite catch up to Marrone’s service at the far post. Meanwhile, on the counter attack, the Huskies tried to work through Finelle and Olivia Varney for an insurance marker.

The second period was all Gardiner from the outset. The positive play — with Marrone stirring the drink the entire time — built for more than 20 minutes until the Tigers could finally crack MCI and goalkeeper Abbie McCarron, who made six of her eight saves after halftime.

“She definitely facilitates our offense a lot,” Prince said of Marrone. “She and Catherine are the same grade and they’ve played together all coming up through, so she finds Catherine on the end of her balls a lot, which is really fun. It’s nice. We’ve got four or five girls involved in starting the offense for us, and good things come from that.”

MCI’s Olivia Varney tries to get past Gardiner defenders Dayna Vasoll, left, and Emily Grover during a girls soccer match Wednesday in Gardiner. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Marrone said once the Tigers had opened their account for the day, more goals were going to come.

“We just talked about capitalizing on the opportunities we were getting,” Marrone said. “We did in the second half, and it paid off. Once you get that confidence and start putting them in the back of the net, they just keep dropping.”

Gardiner moved to third in the B North Heal point standings with the win.

“I’m really confident in how we are playing,” Mansir said. “As a team, we’re working really well together. We’ve had a lot of exciting games like this, where we’ve just pushed through and the results come.”

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